


Sandoval Bey's Backstory (1)

by pallasite



Series: Behind the Gloves [142]
Category: Babylon 5, Babylon 5 & Related Fandoms
Genre: Assassination, Backstory, Boarding School, Canon Compliant, Children, Essays, Fix-It, Gen, Politics, Psi Corps, Telepath culture, Worldbuilding, telepaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-29 02:19:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17194646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pallasite/pseuds/pallasite
Summary: Sandoval Bey was Bester's mentor and father figure when he was a teen in the Corps. (This is canon - he's a character in the canon books and was discussed in the unfilmedCrusadescript involving Bester.)Fragments of his backstory are given in canon - I've pulled them together and I'm reconstructing his story, because his life story is, in a sense, the story of a certain era of the Corps. Bey entered the Corps as a teenager, a "later" from the normal world with no connections, yet eventually rose to be head of all of MetaPol under Director Vacit. His eventual assassination at the hands of Psi Corps Director Johnston (Vacit's successor) marked a pivotal moment both in Psi Corps history, and in Bester's life.New toBehind the Gloves? What is this series? Where are the acknowledgements, table of contents and universe timelines? Seehere.The prologue ofBehind the Glovesishere- please read!





	Sandoval Bey's Backstory (1)

**Author's Note:**

> If you like _Behind the Gloves_ and would like to send me an email, I can be reached at counterintuitive at protonmail dot com. Do you have questions? Would you like to tell me what you like about this project? Email me!
> 
> I also have an [ask blog](https://behind-the-gloves.tumblr.com/), a [writing blog](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/pallasite-writes), and a "P3 life" Tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/p3-life) with funny anecdotes. :)

[First, an explanation for my absence for those of you not on Tumblr: Unfortunately, I was sick for weeks. I'm doing better now! Thank you to those of you who sent me words of encouragement during my absence! Please remember that you can always email me at the address above, or drop an "ask" in on Tumblr. ^_^]

Canon says:

Deadly Relations, p. 95: "Bey's father was Turkish, from the hill country, a poor boy who rose to political prominence. His mother had been the British ambassador to Turkey, and they had lived there until he was six, when his father was murdered by a political dissident. Thereafter, Bey had been raised in London, and had spent long summers with a grandfather who lived near Madrid. He had joined Psi Corps as a teen - Al really wasn't sure exactly when or under what circumstances."

So much to unpack. Let's begin.

Sandoval Bey was born in the mid-2150s. (We know this from his approximate age at the time Bester is 14-15.) He was born directly into political instability.

I'll leave it to those more knowledgeable than I am about Turkey to fill in plausible backstory as to his father's assassination, but I think it's fair to say it was an unstable time politically (perhaps especially after 2156 when the Centauri showed up) - and his father being married to, or at least having a child with, the British ambassador had to also be a source of controversy.

He never had a "typical" early childhood - if he attended school at all (and wasn't tutored at home), he attended a special school for the children of diplomats. He lived with his mother (and perhaps father as well) in the ambassadorial residence, surrounded by bodyguards day and night. He had no siblings and he rarely saw his parents, compared to most children.

When Bey's father was murdered, his mother sent him to London, to live at an elite prep school. (Canon says he was "raised on London," passive voice, and never mentions family other than his grandfather outside Madrid. Bey's mother was still ambassador to Turkey, and had to remain there.)

Prep schools today in the UK commonly [take pupils as young as seven](https://www.ukboardingschools.com/prep-schools/), so I assume it's the same in the future. That he was raised in a boarding school from a young age, and attended till his teens, is actually a critical missing piece, since now we have a window into how he was better able to understand the lives of telepaths who had been raised in the Corps, and to understand "laters" who were sent away from their family as teens. Bey was remarkable in his ability to relate both to other "laters" and to Corps-raised telepaths - and he was unique in his ability to climb the Corps social and professional hierarchy to positions not only closed to laters, but closed to telepaths who weren't raised in _Cadre Prime_.

As Brett says to Bester on Mars, "In the old days [under Vacit], Cadre Primers were placed in strategic positions. The low-level ones became instructors, but the P12s went on to high command."

The head of MetaPol would be a Cadre Primer, and probably always had been. Bey was the the exception. And even after he was forced to step down, senior officers still deferred to him.

I assume his mother sent him away because after his father's assassination, she could no longer guarantee his safety in Turkey. Though his circumstances were different from that of telepath children in the Corps, he also left home at a very young age (sent to a faraway country to live at school), and had a distant relationship with his parents (he seems to have been closer to his grandfather than to his mother).

*****

Bey never mentions anything to Bester about his (Bey's) mother, beyond the above. He does tell Bester a story about his father, however. He remembers him as being a very strict man. He loved his son, but he had an unusual way of showing it.

Canon says at the very end of Deadly Relations:

        "[Bester] remembered something Bey had told him.

        " _My father slapped me once. Actually, he slapped me twice - once with the back of his hand, and then, quickly, with his palm. Later, I understood. The first blow was a rejection - he was rejecting the thing I had done, I don't even remember what it was now._

        " _The second blow - with the palm - was to take me back. "I reject you - but I take you back." That was his message._ It was a good lesson. Sometimes there had to be punishment, but there must always be reconciliation in a family. There must always be a gathering back in, a second slap with the palm. _Family._ "

Bey says "later" he understood, so I'm actually not sure how much of Bey's memory of this moment is accurate as to the father's meaning (this moment had to have happened when Bey was six or younger) and how much of this is Bey's way of making sense of the confusing, painful moment in context of the values of life in Psi Corps, after he entered the Corps, and after he became a Psi Cop.

I think there's at least a bit of the latter going on, especially since he explicitly uses this story as a teaching moment for Bester, when he slaps Bester to get his attention and teach him a lesson - several lessons, actually. (It's a writing error that this moment is mentioned at the end of the book and not included at the time he told Bester. When I get to that scene, I'll put it back, and show you what I mean.)

Bester reflects on this story and its meaning later, at the end of the book, when he is contemplating his life and role as a Psi Cop. It's a significant theme throughout.


End file.
